Amundsen

Amundsen Bryggeri started life as a brewpub in central Oslo back in 2011. Geoffrey Jansen van Vuuren, a South African who had moved to Norway and discovered craft beer while working at the country's first brewpub, had bigger ambitions. When he told the investors he wanted to leave and start his own brewery, they offered to back him instead. Smart move on their part.

The brewery is named after Roald Amundsen, the Norwegian explorer who first reached the South Pole in 1911. That spirit of pushing into uncharted territory runs through everything they do. By 2016, they had expanded into a 3,500 square metre facility and become Oslo's largest brewery. Their Dessert In A Can series of rich pastry stouts helped define an entire style, with flavours like Chocolate Peanut Butter Caramel Brownie that read more like a dessert menu than a beer list.

Their alcohol-free range takes the same creative approach. Rather than simply removing alcohol from existing recipes, Amundsen has partnered with specialists who know the low-alcohol craft inside out. Collaborations with Big Drop and Mash Gang have produced AF pastry stouts and sours that carry the Amundsen DNA. Their Eazy Peazy reimagines their popular Apocalyptic Thunder Juice NEIPA at 0.5%, brewed at Fierce Brewery in Aberdeen where the nolo expertise runs deep.

The AF range spans styles you might not expect from alcohol-free brewing. Helles Good delivers a clean lager, while the Lemon Radler offers something lighter for summer. The pastry stout collaborations bring those rich, dessert-like flavours to the AF category, proving you do not have to sacrifice complexity when dropping the alcohol.

Amundsen sits firmly at the craft end of the spectrum. Their beers turn up in specialist bottle shops and online retailers rather than supermarket shelves, with Dry Drinker and Beers of Europe among the UK stockists. Not the easiest brand to track down, but the range rewards the effort.